Week's Statistic

1,492,676 Fords. Measured by the simple yardstick of units produced, the automobile industry would appear to be thriving. Yet while the number of cars manufactured during the first eight months of 1929 showed a 37.2% increase* over the same period last year, this was almost entirely accounted for by the phenomenal rise in Ford production. In July and August this Ford increase offset the decline shown by other manufacturers and accounted for approximately 40% of the total cars produced in the U. S. and Canada. These facts are illustrated in the following table compiled by the Wall Street Journal:

1929 Total Industry Other Producers Est. Ford Production

August 513,843 307,530 206,313

July 517,854 310,877 206,977

April 663,237 464,346 198,891

January 422,537 268,382 154,155

Total (8 mo.) 4,443,450 2,940,774 1,492,676

1928

August 492,543 391,612 100,931

July 417,312 343,870 73,442

April 434,315 395,662 38,653

January 240,191 234,642 5,549

Total (8 mo.) 3,236,364 2,855,545 380,819

*Another increase was in the number of people killed by automobile accidents. The National Safety Congress reported last week a new high rate during August of 91 fatalities a day, or the annual rate of 33,215.